Got babies? OMG I do! :D with pics!

[Whammo72]

I KNEW my female jackson's (buttercup) was close to giving birth! I called it 2 days ago! Whoo Hoo!!

Went to clean the chams today and found 12 - 13 babies that weren't there a couple of hours ago!

OK ok ok... why this weekend?!? I have to go out of town this weekend! Calming myself... my wife can take care of them fine. Noooo problems.

Alright so I have done my research and I know that baby Jax can be tricky. Anyone have any tips or pointers they would like to share? It would be much appreciated.

Wifes bringing home fruit flys tonight on her way home from work. Got 1000 pinheads coming on tuesday... anyone see any problems with that?

Oh yeah.. i have obligatory pictures!

 

[bigben2057]

Love baby jacksons hope they do well.

 

[laurie]

The babies are so sweet. But from what I hear they are tiny, even small than my quads or deremensis. Mine are so small, I can't imagine what your look like. Mine are 2 days old and all I do is look at them. You are a good man, to be able to leave them, even in the care of your wife. And we all know wife's are perfect since I am one.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Too cool bro! I'd friggin love to witness a live birth. They should be fine with ff's til Tues. They may not even eat til Sun or Mon anyway.

I'd just suggest lots of misting sessions and cool temps. Xanthoman is the jackson guy on here. Look at his threads hes got some really good tips on raising baby Xanths.

 

[suzi]

They are sooo cute! Congratulations

 

[melrito]

I have baby jacksons (jacksonii jacksonii) that are now 9 weeks old and doing great. Jackson babies can be tricky, important is that their temperatures should be kept low, I keep mine between 72-75 during the day with drops at night to about 60-65. I put them outside provided it doesn't get above 82 (temps outside are different than inside with breezes, just be sure they have plenty of shade to get out of the sun and check them and mist them frequently). I do not provide a basking light for the babies, as they are more sensitive to heat than adults. When inside, I hand mist them every 2-3 hours and as newborns fed them 1/8" crickets (pinheads are just too small and die off way too quickly) and hydei fruit flies (they're the bigger of the 2 varieties). I feed my babies as much as they will eat, as they won't overeat. It will take them a day or two before they start eating, so as long as you keep fruit flies for them, waiting until Tuesday will be fine on the pinheads. Some people have had issues with their baby chams not eating fruit flies, but mine have eaten them without issues - you'll have to see whether yours are picky or not ;-). You can keep them together in one enclosure when they are young, however keep a close eye on aggression and separate out the aggressors. Also, if you notice size differences in the babies (this probably won't be noticeable until they are a couple weeks old), separate out the small ones or they will run into competition for food with the larger ones winning out.

Hope this helps, if you have any more questions, you're welcome to PM me as well.

 

[Whammo72]

awesome! thank you. I will change my order to 1/8 inch crix rather then pinheads.

on a side note... anyone know how to keep fruit flys in the enclosure?

Right now the babies are in a 10 gal aquarium with an open top and the fruit flies my wife brought home (they are the larger type) are climbing right up the glass and out. yikes.

 

[Whammo72]

I dont have a heat light but i did put on a reptiglo 5.0 above them and that alone is keeping the temp at around 80... should i remove it?

 

[melrito]

I use screen enclosures for my babies, so the reptisun 5.0 doesn't warm mine except right under the light. I think 80 is too hot for them all the time, but they do require the UVB light... just check the temps at the middle of the enclosure and see if they're also 80, or if there is a temperature gradient. If the whole enclosure is 80, I would say you should consider a different enclosure (unless anyone else in the forum has had success with these temps...).

Regarding the fruit flies getting out - they will tend to do that. One option would be to go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a mesh screen for the top - they have one that is not metal, but a type of mesh/plastic (in my experience, the small crickets won't eat through it) and the holes in that screen are not large enough for the fruit flies to get through - you can make your cover/lid out of that. Another option would be to buy a screen for the top of the aquarium and if the flies can climb out through that, you can attach the smaller mesh screen to the inside of that lid - keeping the fruit flies inside.

Congratulations again on the babies... very exciting!

 

[Chris Jury]

I largely agree with what Melrito says above. They are much less forgiving of temperature extremes than the adults. Personally, I would provide a very small, low wattage basking light, as they do sometimes appreciate basking, even at this size, but would check the temperatures thoroughly throughout the enclosure. I think an ambient temp of 80 F, in combination with a very small basking bulb, is about the highest you want with 70-75 perhaps preferable. Right below the basking bulb (again, very confined area here) I think a target of 85-90 F is useful as this should allow them to warm up if and when they want to (and these animals normally maintain body temps from the low 80's to low 90's F during the day), but I must stress again that they need to have very easy access to cooler temps of < 80 F. If they can easily shuttle between an area that is 75 F and 85-90 F by moving a short distance, they should be content. A temperture spike, even if relatively short lived, can cause them to drop dead.

The key here is giving them choices and the ability to cool down if they wish. These guys will overheat and drop dead in no time flat if they are forced to deal with temperatures that are too high. Again, extremes will kill them fast--they don't have the thermal inertia that adults do, and their tolerance for temperature extremes seems generally lower IME. While I have not personally run into the issue, I have heard that the same applies on the low temperature end and the babies are less tolerant of low temperature extremes (though not much of an issue at this time of year, ha) than are the adults. If I recall, Sean McKeown used to recommend a minimum of about 60 F for babies (adults easily tolerate the 50's F and even the 40's F). Again, this isn't an issue I've personally run into as the temperature here almost never drops below 60 F, and I'm guessing that for right now this isn't an issue for you either.

 

[ponders]

awesome! thank you. I will change my order to 1/8 inch crix rather then pinheads.

on a side note... anyone know how to keep fruit flys in the enclosure?

Right now the babies are in a 10 gal aquarium with an open top and the fruit flies my wife brought home (they are the larger type) are climbing right up the glass and out. yikes.

Put a few pieces of ripe fruit on the bottom and the fruit flies will hang out around them. Congrats and good luck on the babies!

 

[Whammo72]

UPDATE! With pics.

Just checked this thread to remind myself of the size they were on day one and to see how much they have grown in a little over a month. I had 12 total and lost one on week 2 (I think he was the one that got dropped by my son right after birth... eek). The remaining 11 are doing great and growing fine, now that I see it in pictures.. heh.

I greatly appreciate all the input both gushing about cuteness and informative! Very helpful and nice feeling!

Obligatory pictures...

 

[bigcappa]

Congrats! They're a handful I'd say more but it looks like you've gotten a lot of good info already!

 

[Whammo72]

In my world there is NEVER such a thing as too much info!

 

[bigcappa]

Haha you're right maybe I should have said they covered everything that I would have Are you planning on selling any, if so are there any males that are not taken already?

 

[Whammo72]

I have not sold any yet, I have been wanting to make sure they get established first and were doing well. I am now thinking of doing so.

 

[laurie]

They are awesome!! I have totally promised no more chams, but for a tiny male jackson to watch grow up, I would forget that promise in a heartbeat, sooooooo if you are considering selling.....

 

[melrito]

They are awesome!! I have totally promised no more chams, but for a tiny male jackson to watch grow up, I would forget that promise in a heartbeat, sooooooo if you are considering selling.....

laurie, I've also got some baby jacksons that were born a few days ago (23 in fact). Whammo72's are closer to being ready for their new homes, but if he doesn't want to part with any, I'll certainly have a male for you. I have jacksonii xantholophus (born 3 days ago) and jacksonii jacksonii (they were born in June - haven't put them up for sale yet, as they are much more difficult to sex and I have not done that yet).

 

[Whammo72]

I am giving first shot to a local pet shop here in town that we moved to this summer. Trying to establish local connections for all my breeding herps ya know. I emailed them today and doubt they will want all of them. Anyone who is interested can send me a PM as I only plan on keeping one female.

 

[Endangeredjen]

Congrats!

I am in the process of taking care of three baby Jacksons myself. I think I'm over the hump as they are about 3 mos or so now. They are really healthy and I am excited!

First off, Xanthoman is a member here and he was REALLY helpful. I private messaged him for help initially and it probably saved the babies! So if you have any really detailed questions I would talk to him. I live in Hawaii and he had experience with wild caught chameleons here, so it was great.

He suggested feeding the babies Green Bottle Flies. They have less exo-skeleton than crickets and really great for babies to digest. He has a whole process for how to breed them (he posted to a thread I started and gave all details if you need). I think you can also buy flies on www.mantisplace.com which is what I did. I had a hard time with the pinheads, so small and would get out of the cage and really hard to keep track of how many the babies were really eating... Although, now that they are bigger, they get a mix of crickets, flies and hornworms. Anyway. Flies would be great!

Also, as for sun, I was really careful to keep them mostly shaded. Direct sunlight can be a killer. I did have an area of sun, but still I would notice a baby in the sun, all red and having its mouth open, but then not moving out of the sun, so I would monitor.

Water- More is more! I work at home and I think that was ideal! I was able to really keep an eye on them, I didn't have a misting system set up yet and just sprayed them about every hour or so, like crazy. Dehydration is a big one. Also, since they are so sensitive, I use purified water (you may not be able to do this) but I have water delivered at home, so it was no big deal to give them the good stuff.

As for Vitamins- I really didn't even give them any vitamins for the first month as they are more sensitive to vitamins then other types of chameleons. Xanthoman has really good info on this- basically if you keep them outside I was told I could skip the D-3 and only give them calcium (about as much as a matchstick head) sprinkled on each batch of feeders. Do not over do it with the vitamins.

What else, I can't think of anything else right now, I guess the other thing that was helpful was to really get to know them well. I try to look at their eyes everyday, I have been able to tell when they were a bit dehydrated, there eyes would be a little sunken. After a day of super hydrating, back to normal. So that was another good trick...

That's about it! Good Luck with the babies! They look great! have fun!!

Jen